Comprehensive PBIS System in Our District:
Merging PBIS and Diversity/Equity Cadre
Sarah Lewenberg
University of Oregon
District Improvement Goal
Targeted Issue:
To create a sustainable, functioning and effective system to
support school climate and behavioral issues in our district, an
integrated model of Positive Behavioral Interventions and
Supports (PBIS) and the Diversity and Equity Cadre (DEC) is
imperative. Adding the layer of the DEC to the entrenched PBIS
systems (that still need developing in many areas) will strengthen
the district systems and supports that exist to support school
climate, groups of students’ needs, the individual student
differences found at all schools in our district.
Measurable Goals:
By the end of the 2013-14 school year:
•Information taken from parent and students surveys will
indicated an improved feeling of safety, participation, and
acceptance at school.
•Behavior incident reporting will have a narrowed gap between
the racial/ethnic groups in the district.
•Parent participation in school activities will be improved.
•Staff will indicate a higher level of understanding of the diversity
needs and realities in our district as indicated on the annual
Diversity Survey.
Needs Assessment
Shared Vision leads to Improved Academic
Achievement for All Students.
There a numerous activities essential to ensure that this important
change becomes a reality. There must be organized and
meaningful collaboration between the PBIS leadership team and
the members of the DEC. The first step in this collaboration
would be the development of merged vision and mission
statements, updating the PBIS White Paper. The outcome of this
document would create shared understanding and vision to guide
the work of the newly re-visioned PBIS leadership team.
Through the equity lens, the PBIS leadership team (now merged
with DEC) will need to assess the needs of staff members to
provide appropriate training to school-based PBIS teams. The
newly visioned PBIS leadership team will also need to work
closely with the district technology department to develop the
means to access meaningful data the appropriately reflects the
needs of all students in our district, including students of color.
The recreation of the PBIS White Paper, essential staff
development, and access to meaningful data are just three of
many inputs that will lead to outcomes essential to the success
academically and emotionally of all our students. The long term
outcome of these myriad inputs will be a shared vision leads to
improved academic achievement for ALL students.
Quotes from teachers on the diversity and equity
survey: “It appears the district is out to support every
ethnicity except Caucasian. It also appears the district want
to support all beliefs except Christian. Additionally, we are
to support all lifestyles except for man/woman in a
marriage. If we are to support and respect everyone, then
let's make "everyone" all inclusive.”
“Celebrate middle class white kids that come to
school everyday and do what they are supposed to do.”
“How about teaching students of other cultures
how to assimilate to the American culture?”
POSTER TEMPLATE BY:
www.PosterPresentations.com
It is nearly impossible to put a dollar amount on the
positive and successful educational experience of all
students, regardless of background and ability. Achieving
the district goal of every student a graduate with a bright
and successful future, is priceless. However, below is an
approximate cost analysis of a more powerful and
appropriate system to address behavior, social, and
emotional needs of all students in the District School
District based on a new concept that PBIS and Cultural
Equity and Diversity efforts are unified and fully
integrated. Because of this human component that cannot
be priced, I chose not to use a spread sheet to analyze the
cost of change to better illustrate the scope of effect.
Cost Analysis- Combined Initiat ives
Per year (dependent on curr ent budgetary situation)
PBIS and
Diversity/Equity
Cadre
Integration
Personnel
Costs
Training
Costs
Intangible Costs
1.0 FTE (TOSA)approximately
$70,000
Combined
training money:
Title II and
Grant $40,000
Professional
development for PBIS
teams; integration of
leadership teams;
leadership team training
Benefits of Integration

Systems in place to meet the needs of all students regardless of background and ability.
 A ded icated and knowledgeable leader focused on supported systems and teams.
 Capacity building for stake-holders at all levels to support the needs of students.
 Inclusivity of systems and supports.
Measurement
Evidence of Need
There is sufficient survey, incident, observational ,and
anecdotal data that demonstrates the follow:
Not all staff in the District School District believes that
students from all backgrounds can achieve high levels of
proficiency.
Not all staff in the District School District believe that
issues of diversity and equity need to be addressed in our
schools
 Not all students in the District School District feel safe at
school.
There is a meaningful gap in the behavior and attendance
data; students of color as a whole receive more office
discipline referrals and have lower attendance rates.
 Programs to support behavior and student needs are not
consistent district-wide.
The unification of PBIS and DEC work would prove to
support culturally appropriate, systematic school and
classroom programs that would ultimately meet the
emotional, behavioral, and social needs of our diverse
student population. Furthermore, staff would be forced to
face issues of equity as PBIS is already an integral part of
our school organizations.
Outcomes
Cost Analysis
On a recent PBIS team survey, schools reported some
of the following weaknesses:
-Lack of appropriate data to understand the deficits in the
building.
-Lack of a clear and consistent system to support student
behaviors.
-Lack of consistency of school-wide behavior programs within
the confines of the classrooms
Students reported:
Demographics
-Low levels of being treated respectfully by other students
Yearly attendance percentages by race
Office Discipline Referals be Race: percentages
120
120
100
100
80
80
60
60
40
40
20
20
0
0
whites
american
ind
asian
The decisive marker of success of this change is an improved
lens that all teachers, staff, and policy makers in the district
have before their eyes when making decisions about and
interacting with kids. Curriculum, behavior plans, school-wide
action plans, and daily lessons will be created and developed
with an automatic understanding that students have differing
needs, backgrounds, and histories. Success can more easily be
measured through the use of surveys, office discipline referrals,
attendance data, and achievement data.
black
hispanic
multi
whites
american
ind
asian
black
hispanic
Assumptions
*The big 3 of PBIS (systems, data, and practices) align
perfectly with the goals of the Diversity and Equity Cadre.
*The purpose and goals of both organizations and programs
is to create an appropriate and positive learning
environment for ALL students.
District Public Schools is located in City, Oregon, Lane County’s
second largest city. City is a town of approximately 61,000 and a zero to
18-year-old population of roughly 16,000 (26%). A variety of
challenging social and economic conditions in City have underscored
the urgent need to rethink the delivery of the District’s educational
programs.
District Public Schools consists of more than 11,000 students
reflecting an increasingly diverse and high-needs population. The
district’s Hispanic student enrollment has nearly doubled over the last
seven years, now comprising 13 percent of the student body (31% at the
high school level). According to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, in its
report Children At-Risk: State Trends, from 1990 to 2000 the percent of
children living in high-risk families in Oregon increased by 40 percent,
ranking Oregon as the second worst state in the country for the
percentage of children being raised in high-risk families. As measured
by free and reduced lunch status, over 50 percent of District students are
identified as living in poverty with some individual schools exceeding
80 percent. The District is made up of 16 elementary schools serving
students in kindergarten through 5th grade; five middle schools, 6th-8th
grades; and four high schools, including two comprehensive high
schools, 9th-12th grades, serving over 2,900 students per year.
• Positive learning environment for all students. Fewer
referrals for students because of stronger more inclusive
systems in place.
• Positive interactions between students of different
backgrounds.
• Fewer racial/ gender/ orientation based altercations between
students altercations.
• Positive interactions between students and staff.
Appropriate interventions and procedures addressing cultural
issues in the school-wide plan.
• Shared vision and goals to improve the education of all
students.
• Multiplied resources to support more students and schools
(no longer hit and miss).
• Deep working understanding of the importance of
addressing cultural.
• This understanding will drive a school-wide plan to
improve PBIS systems for all students with appropriate
district support mechanisms in place.
• School teams will understand their own weaknesses in
their buildings.
Timeline
By June of 2013 the following changes will be partially to fully
implemented in our district:
•
The PBIS and DEC leadership teams will merge and meet
together monthly.
• The PBIS and DEC leadership teams will create ONE
action plan and set of goals for the 2013-14 school year.
• Data will be available to support the work of the newly
merged PBIS/DEC.
Interim steps:
1. Include representation from DEC on PBIS leadershipFebruary, 2012.
2. Work with the district DIGIT team on data systems-Feb.June, 2012.
3. Meet with instructional leaders, PBIS coordinator, DEC
representative to devise merged goals and vision. Summer
2012.
4. Rewrite the PBIS district White Paper. Fall 2012
References
Duda, M. , & Utley, C. (2005). Positive behavioral support for at-risk students:
Promoting social competence in at-risk culturally diverse learners in
urban schools. Multiple Voices for Ethnically Diverse Exceptional Learners, 8(1),
128-143.
O'Brien, C. (2007). Using collaborative reading groups to accommodate diverse
learning and behavior needs in the general education classroom. Beyond Behavior,
16(3), 7-15.
Vincent, C. , Randall, C. , Cartledge, G. , Tobin, T. , & Swain-Bradway, J. (2011).
Toward a conceptual integration of cultural responsiveness and schoolwide
positive behavior support. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 13(4), 219229.